Tetun
(also spelled 'Tetum') is one of the two official languages of
Timor
Leste, and the main lingua franca used throughout the country.

Dili
Institute of Technology’s Language Centre offers Tetun language
training to both Timorese and expatriates, as well as producing
resources in and about Tetun.

New
editions of all our publications were produced in 2015, to
reflect
a minor revision in the spelling system used. The main change was that
Portuguese 'nh' and 'lh' are now written the same way in Tetun (e.g. senhora 'ma'am'. In
earlier editions, these were written with 'ny' and 'ly' (e.g. senyora) to avoid
confusion with the few native Tetun words that have an n-h sequence
(e.g. bainhira
'when').

Learn to speak Tetun

Learn Tetun language and Timorese culture in-country through intensive
courses at DIT. Our three full-time staff offer courses all year round,
teaching all levels from absolute beginners to advanced. Join us for
one week or more, as your schedule permits. For more information, click
here.

Tetun-English interactive dictionary (2015,
ed. 2)

This interactive Tetun-English dictionary was produced by
Catharina
Williams-van Klinken with the assistance of many people. It currently
has 5600 Tetun headwords plus 1700 sub-entries, and 6800 English
entries. There are 2700 cross-references to related words, such as
words with similar or opposite meaning, as well as 700 example
sentences. You can search for words through Tetun or English. On the
non-Android version you can also search by
categories such as health or agriculture.

Download HTML files here
for a less elegant option that runs on more platforms (1.5MB).

Tetun ba eskola ho servisu 1 (2015)

This book is designed to teach study skills and Tetun writing to
first-semester university students. Chapters cover the history
of
Tetun, principles of spelling, goal-setting,
formal and informal speech, showing time relationships between clauses,
writing narratives, looking for information, taking notes from written
and spoken texts, and writing summaries and descriptions.

Tetun ba eskola ho servisu 2 (2016)

This book is designed to teach study skills and Tetun writing to
second-semester university students. Chapters cover writing
descriptions, reports and procedures, using paragraphs, critical
thinking, doing job interviews, numbers, writing literature reviews and
bibliographies, translation, and ways of translating passives
into Tetun.

Glosariu informatika / IT Glossary
(2015, ed. 2)

This glossary of computing terms was produced by Catharina
Williams-van Klinken, Marcelo Fernandes Xavier Cham and Saleh Abdullah
Alkatiri. It has over 700 terms in Tetun, Portuguese, English and
Indonesian.

It can be bought in book form for about $5, downloaded as
a PDF file, or run as an interactive program. Download as PDF file here
(1MB)

This comprehensive Tetun course written by Catharina Williams-van
Klinken for English-speaking foreigners covers a wide range of everyday
needs, as well as an introduction to more specialised areas such as
administration, education and agriculture. It is available in book form
for about US$20 from various shops in Dili, East Timor (including
Sylvia, Duta Xerox and Lalenok Study Group in Dili), or on CD together
with the recordings and flashcards, or can be downloaded here.

Wordfinder
(2015, ed. 2)

This pocket-sized mini-dictionary by Catharina Williams-van
Klinken is
designed for beginner and intermediate learners of Tetun and English.
With some 4500 Tetun headwords, and 4900 English ones, it focuses on
generally known vocabulary on everyday topics.

It is
available for about US$5-$10 from Lalenok Study Group, Duta Xerox or
Sylvia
in Dili, or can be downloaded here. Alternatively, for bulk
orders, contact us
directly for a discount price of $3.50 per copy for orders of 30 or
more,
and $4.00 per copy for orders of at least 100.
For larger-print
copies, the discount price is $4.50 for orders of 30 or more, or $4 for
orders of at least 100.

Tetun for the Justice
Sector (2015, ed. 2)

This
book, produced cooperatively by the Timor-Leste Police Development
Program and Dili Institute of Technology, is designed to teach Tetun at
intermediate
level with special emphasis on policing and justice. It
includes chapters on the structure of the government and the national
police service PNTL, violence, arrest and detention, traffic, resolving
problems within the extended family, interviewing, and search and
seizure. The book was written by Catharina Williams-van Klinken
together with Alexandre Fernandes Cham, Anabela Maia
Santos, Hendriana da Costa Marçal, and Jacinta Canossa Soares

Tetun writing courses

All
Dili Institute of Technology students study Tetun writing skills for
two semesters. When time permits we can provide writing
skills courses for other
institutions, as well as training in the use of our "Tetun 1" and
"Tetun 2" textbooks for teaching at senior high school or tertiary
level.